On trial, a drug that can bring back your hearing

Clinical trials are under way on a new drug to prevent and treat hearing loss.

The drug, which could revolutionise the way noise-induced hearing loss is treated, will also be part of a larger trial involving U.S. Army and Navy personnel.

It is estimated that there are more than 500,000 people in Britain who have hearing loss due to noise at work alone. Other research estimated that up to five million people in Britain have hearing that has been affected by noise exposure.

At present there is not a drug that can prevent or treat the damage, and the only treatment of noise-induced hearing loss is a hearing aid.

The new drug, codenamed SPI-1005, and other compounds like it, could change all that. They have been designed both to prevent and treat any damage to hearing.

Sound Pharmaceuticals, which has developed the drug, an oral capsule, says laboratory and animal studies have shown it to be highly effective.

The drug is a synthesised copy of an enzyme that plays a key role in neutralising reactive oxygen compounds formed in the cochlea, part of the inner ear, during and after loud noise exposure.

The company is also looking into developing drugs that will help to regrow damaged hair cells in the ear which form a key link in the chain of signals that makes hearing possible.